🛒👆 Can This Startup Be The Stripe Link of Indonesia?

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Here’s what we got for you:

• 🌊 The SEA - Orderfaz - The Indonesian Stripe Link Startup 

• ⛵ SEAppets - Funding into Southeast Asian tech startups fell 71% to $2.3 billion

• 💰 SEA Deals

• 🖼️ AI Image of the day

• 🐣 Tweet of the day

Markets 📈

The SEA 🌊

Will this be the one-click checkout startup that will actually make it?

I’m talking about Orderfaz.

🤷‍♂️ Who is Ordefaz?

• Founded in 2023 by Reynaldi Gandawidjaja, Mohamad Iqbal and Jessica Alvina, Orderfaz is an Indonesian fintech startup that helps businesses increase their online sales in the country’s growing social commerce sector

• The trio were all former senior executives at the social commerce site Evermos. They previously founded Popaket (digital logistics platform acquired by Evermos) and Bandros (SME dropshipping services)

🛒 How it works?

• Orderfaz has created a Smart WhatsApp Keyboard feature that makes it easy for sellers to use WhatsApp to complete online transactions and manage orders, invoices and product checkout links

• The TLDR - it’s a Stripe link

💰 Funding

• The startup has recently completed a pre-seed round of financing led by 1982 Ventures

• The firm plans to develop an omnichannel marketplace and a customer loyalty program to help brands and sellers improve online sales conversion rates

• The team has signed up over 600 sellers and expects to double its user base

SEAppets ⛵

1. Funding into Southeast Asian tech startups fell 71% to $2.3 billion in the first half of 2023, according to a report by Tracxn Technologies Ltd. This decline was largely driven by a plunge in late-stage investments, and the total funding in the first half was 45% lower than in the second half of 2022. Fintech, enterprise applications and retail were the top-performing segments in the first half of 2023, with Singapore, Jakarta and Petaling Jaya being the most funded cities. East Ventures, Seeds Capital and Y Combinator were the most active investors.

Didn’t expect to see Petaling Jaya to be on the list. Ha! Who’s living in the slump now 😎

2. Elon Musk has announced the formation of a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup, despite his earlier call for a six-month pause on advanced AI systems. The startup has recruited experienced engineers and researchers and is advised by Dan Hendrycks from the Center for AI Safety. Musk was an early backer of the company behind ChatGPT but stepped down from the board in 2018.

3. Governments in Southeast Asia have signed a landmark cross-border payments deal, allowing travellers to use QR codes for payments. This is a major development for the region's payment market, as it enables seamless transactions for customers and businesses. In order to continue this growth, businesses must innovate and collaborate with payment providers to ensure secure transactions and capitalize on the potential of the tourism industry.

4. Robocash Group released a study that found that home loans are the most popular type of loan in Southeast Asia, followed by online loans, credit cards, instalment loans and salary loans. The study found that the demand for lending products had increased by 15% since 2020. The study was based on search requests from Google Ads and covered 10 countries in the region.

5. Teleport, a logistics venture backed by Capital A Berhad, has inducted its first Airbus A321 Freighter aircraft into its fleet, which is expected to strengthen its position as the market leader in air cargo volume across Southeast Asia. The induction of the A321F is a collective effort by entities within the Capital A Group and with the first A321F based in Kuala Lumpur, it will have access to 80 destinations in Southeast Asia. The firm's growth in the past 24 months has been driven by its three unique advantages, and it is now raising $50M to extend cross-border delivery services in Southeast Asia.

6. PasarPolis, an Indonesian insurance technology startup, has appointed Peter Van Zyl as its President. Digital content distributor Iyagi Novels has also appointed Kevin Kok-Yew Tan as its CEO. Founded in 2015, PasarPolis seeks to provide access to affordable insurance products, while Iyagi Novels is a digital content distributor for Korean novels with more than 3,000 mobile application downloads since its beta launch in 2022.

SEA Deals 💰

1. Antler, a global early-stage venture capital firm, has partnered with Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional Berhad sovereign wealth fund to provide support and investments to over 30 startups in the country over the next three years. Khazanah has also launched the Future Malaysia Programme to deploy 180 million ringgit and collaborate with venture capital firms to support the local startup ecosystem.

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AI Images of The Day 🖼️

Hogwarts - House of Gucci Edition

Tweet of The Day 🐣

Yup I’m not even 30 but am already feeling this way :’) #stayfocus

That’s a wrap for today. See you all tomorrow! 👋

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